Hameed denies accusing teammates
Pakistan batsman Yasir Hameed insisted on Sunday that he had been misled
by an undercover reporter and was only repeating allegations he had
read about when he said his teammates were corrupt.
The News of the World newspaper said Hameed had "sensationally
confirmed" its report last week that some Pakistan players had
accepted money to fix aspects of the final test match against
England in London.
The paper said Hameed had told one of its reporters in a bar in
Nottingham, central England, that some Pakistan players were fixing
"almost every match".
"They’ve been caught. Only the ones that get caught are
branded crooks. They were doing it (fixing) in almost every match.
God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for
ages," Hameed was quoted as saying.
"It makes me angry because I’m playing my best and they
are trying to lose."
HIDDEN CAMERA
The tabloid printed a photograph of Hameed which appeared to
have been taken by a hidden camera as proof of their meeting, in
which he also said that he himself had been asked to fix games.
"If you sat here and said, 'I'm a bookie and I want you to fix
the match tomorrow' -- I've met lots of people like that in the
past and I refused. They offered me handsome money," he was quoted
as saying by the paper.
In a statement on Sunday, the 32-year-old said that in talking to
their reporter -- who broke the original story of the "spot-fixing"
claims -- he had been misled into thinking he was speaking to a
potential sponsor.
"Naturally, I was interested in what he had to say and we began
a conversation," he said.
"He offered me at least £50 000 for the deal," which involved having an airline logo on his
bat, plus television and billboard advertisements in the United
Arab Emirates.
Hameed said he was asked for the names of four more players who
may be interested in a similar arrangements and was then asked
about the match-fixing allegations clouding Pakistan's England
tour.
NAIVELY ANSWERED QUESTIONS
"As I saw him as a friend and a potential agent I naively
started to answer his questions," he said.
"As far as I recall, I only told him whatever I had already read
in the newspapers about the matter."
Hameed said he was unaware of the hidden camera.
He said two days later the man telephoned and offered £25 000
to give a statement against the three players under
investigation: Pakistan test captain Salman Butt and bowlers
Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif.
Hameed said he refused immediately and put the phone down, then
neither called nor took calls from the man.
The batsman said he later received a text from the man, which
read: "Pls call me. Incidentally you are in video drinking wine and
saying all the quotes attributed to you. Denying it is just stupid
as we will be releasing the video to TV. Better that you stand up
and speak the truth!!!!"
He said he decided not to respond and told the Pakistan Cricket
Board about what had happened.
The statement was read by a spokesman outside the Pakistan High
Commission (embassy) in London. Hameed was later seen leaving the
building.
Hameed's statement contained the mobile phone number of the man
he was dealing with.
The number goes straight through to Scotland Yard's non-urgent
general enquiries line.
"The number given does divert to a police non-emergency number.
We will take a look into the circumstances of this," a Scotland
Yard spokesman said.
The News of the World's allegations last week led to Butt, Amir
and Asif being charged by the International Cricket Council for
corruption. They were also questioned by police.
Hameed remains in England after playing in Pakistan's test
series here, despite not being picked for the one-day matches.
Hameed told AFP: "I can never think of blaming my teammates in
match-fixing."
MENTAL AGE OF A TEEN
Pakistan's one-day captain Shahid Afridi said Hameed has the
mental age of a teen.
"I think he is 30, 31, but mentally he is 15, 16. I don't know
with who he was sitting or in which situation he gave this message.
"I don't know but we have known him for a long time and we can
expect anything from him. He has been doing these type of things a
lot of times."
Asked if Hamid was unreliable, he replied: "Yeah, the people
know which type of character he is."